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Scotland B&Bs with 3 kids

My family and i will be traveling to Scotland and London next June. We plan on being in Scotland from June 15th-22nd. The first 2 days we will be staying in Edinburgh then driving around the country with 1 night in St. Andrews, 2 nights Inverness, 2 nights in Oban then 1 night near Edinburgh before we fly out to London. While staying outside of Edinburgh we really want to stay in B&Bs but our travel agent is telling us we'd have to rent 3 rooms because of the children. We have our 2 children and our niece traveling with us. During the time we are there the 2 girls will be 15 and 14 and our son will be 12. My thoughts are to get 2 rooms per night at each B&B and put my wife with the girls and my son and I in the other room. Our travel agent is telling us they won't do that because the children are old to enough to all be considered adults. The agent is recommending we stay in hotels and the quote she gave us for hotels in each town we say in has raised the estimated per person cost of the trip by $500.00. Does anyone have any insight on B&Bs in Scotland and whether or not we could do the 2 rooms with 5 people? Our travel agent has done pretty well by us in past trips to Europe but we've found in other trips that not everything she's told us has been accurate.

Posted by
5678 posts

You should look into family rooms. B&Bs usually do charge by the person. You should be able to find a twin and then a family room. Look at small hotels as well as. Try the visitscotland accommodation search.

Posted by
784 posts

You will have to look around a bit harder, but you will be able to find B&Bs to fit your group. There may be some family rooms that sleep 5, but more likely, you'll find two rooms, a triple and a double. We've traveled throughout Europe with either one or both of our kids, and have been able to find triples and 4-person rooms almost everywhere. It doesn't have anything to do with how old the occupants of the room are.

I would suggest that you put your time in Edinburgh all at the end, so you don't have to move lodging so much. Also, St. Andrews is an easy train ride from Edinburgh, so again, to reduce having to change lodgings, you could spend another night in Edinburgh.

Two places that you could check out in Edinburgh are No. 53 Frederick St., in the new town; they have rooms for 2, 3 or 4 people. Owners are lovely, building is lovely, and the rooms have lots of space. We have also stayed in an apartment, called Nicholson Apartments; we stayed in a 3-person unit on W. Nicholson, but they have other properties. Their letting requirements are a bit strict, but everything worked out ok and the staff was very helpful.

Posted by
4138 posts

Try Booking.com.

Put in the location, 2 rooms, 2 adults, 3 kids, their ages and the dates of your stay to get the basic results. Then filter the results however you want. I recommend ignoring the stars and choosing a review score of 8+. That will produce a more refined set of results. From there you can add more filters.

I experimented with this for Edinburgh, arriving on June 15 and departing on June 17. There were all kinds of options in the results, including many hotels. Most of those will list 2 rooms, one for 2 people and 1 for 3. Sound familiar? There were also B&Bs listed. You can limit to B&Bs if you want. When I tried that, there were 49 with a rating of 8+ that offered options for your group.

Don't assume that a B&B will automatically be cheaper than a hotel. And you may be shocked by the total prices for either. I also recommend that this is a good time to start using £ instead of $ in your planning. You can change the currency at the top of the search/results page.

I'm not sure why your agent thought the fact that the "adult" ages of the kids would make much of a difference on your 2 room plan. Everybody needs a bed regardless of age, but the agent is probably right about the kids being considered as adults. It's not only about the price, but also about the size of beds needed.

Many people book through Booking.com. I'm not one of them. I prefer to use it to zero in on likely options, Google those to see if they have their own websites, then email them with specific questions. With your somewhat unique lodging need, I'd do that. You want to be sure to ask about parking.

I did a 6 week solo trip to England and Scotland in May and June this year. I stayed in small hotels, B&Bs, pubs and an apartment. I found them in a variety of ways. Booking.com is only one of them. So be sure to explore any other resources that are recommended.

Posted by
265 posts

Take no notice of what your travel agent has said.

I used to run a B&B and still know people who do. When you make enquiries or a booking with a B&B you are dealing with real people who are using their homes to provide an income. You are not dealing with corporate hospitality and a centralised booking system. Every B&B in the UK is different and you won't find two the same and the proprietors can often offer excellent personal service.

In fact Rick Steves puts it rather well. He says :-

"Staying in B&B’s can be a great way to save money over sleeping in a bigger and more expensive hotel. The philosophy of the management determines the character of the place rather than its size or facilities. My top listings are run by people who enjoy welcoming the world to their breakfast table

B&B’s come with their own etiquette or quirks. Keep in mind that B&B owners are at the whim of their guests. If you're getting up early, so are they, and if you're checking in late, they'll wait up for you.

B&B’s are not hotels - think of your hosts as friendly acquaintances who have invited you to stay in their home, rather than someone you are paying to wait on you.”

So use that to your advantage. When making enquiries explain fully your situation and my bet is that even if your preferred B&B cannot help you with the rooms you need, they will know someone else nearby who can.

Posted by
3119 posts

There are also holiday cottages suitable for families, although they may have a minimum stay of more than 2 nights. Just a thought.

Agree with the idea of making St. Andrews a day trip from Edinburgh. You'll have to get an early start, but daylight is long in June.

Posted by
2636 posts

I would change your travel agent they don't have a clue .Plenty of B&B's around that offer rooms to sleep 3 people.
https://www.visitscotland.com/accommodation/bandbs-guesthouses/
this website is great for finding places in Scotland, in the areas you are travelling too in Scotland B&B's and Guest houses are more abundant than hotels.
Now the definition of B&B's in Scotland is maybe different from what you are used to.B&B's are usually small houses with up to 6 bed spaces usually run by a couple or single person, Guest houses are similar but have more spaces but don't offer the full hotel services.